West Lebanon — The Hanover and Lebanon girls hockey teams will meet Saturday with the top ranking in NHIAA Division I on the line as a result of hard-fought victories at Campion Rink last night.

The Marauders, holding down first place in the league, used a first-minute Katrina Menard goal and a whole lot of defense to hold off Oyster River, 1-0, in the first half of a home-team doubleheader. The Raiders, just a half-game behind the Marauders in the standings, followed with a 3-1 defeat of Bishop Guertin built on senior Chrissy Drake’s natural hat trick.

Saturday’s showdown will be just the first of the regular season — the Upper Valley rivals reunite at Campion two weeks later — and given recent history, it’ll go past that. Hanover won its fourth NHIAA state championship in five years with a 5-1 defeat of Lebanon in last year’s final.

“It was one of those nights for us that things weren’t quite where you want them to be,” Hanover coach John Dodds said. “I think we were a little sloppy in the first, and things weren’t going quite the way they usually do. But they buckled down and played good defense.”

Menard, a senior blueliner, scored the only goal of the game for Hanover (8-0-0 league, 9-1-0 overall) just 57 seconds into the contest, converting passes from forwards Kelly Brigham and Emily Acker. The rest of the night belonged to the defense, and not just because of the 12-save shutout goaltending of senior Kelly Gaudet.

Hanover allowed the Bobcats (6-3-0) few good scoring chances. The Marauders also stayed out of the penalty box, taking just two minors (including an offensive-zone tripping call to forward Eliza Laycock with 3:30 to go) and killing both with ease.

“Defense is not just the defensemen and the goalies,” Dodds said. “We work pretty hard on having forwards come back and help and backcheck and D-zone coverage. They do a good job at that. Everybody’s a defenseman when they’re out there.”

Lebanon (8-1-0 league and overall) spotted the Cardinals (6-3-0) the game’s first goal, then rallied behind Drake — the region’s top scorer at 32 points — and goaltender Erika Moffitt (21 saves).

BG’s Victoria Shaw stubbed a low-slot slider through Moffitt’s pads at 4:20 of the first period, a goal Drake countered 31/2 minutes later on a Cardinal turnover in the right-wing circle. Drake’s 20th goal of the year, an Amelia Gage-fed strike on the power play with 7:28 to play, broke the tie, and Drake added an insurance goal with 1:11 left, crashing over a BG defender to poke home a Lauren McEwen rebound.

“It was a huge test for us tonight,” Lebanon coach Brad Shaw said. “We came in tonight knowing that was going to be our barometer, because we know how strong Hanover is. Hanover has played (BG) twice, and they were pretty good matchups. We wanted to go out tonight and show them a good game so that we would have a feeling for where we may be come Saturday night.

“We feel confident. We’re both very young teams. ... We just keep working on the little things. We’re working real hard on trying not to beat ourselves.”

Gage finished with two assists and McEwen and Micaela Schones had one each for Lebanon. While the Raiders won’t see game action again until Saturday, the Marauders will host Concord tomorrow in their final tune-up before the weekend.

Girls Basketball

Mascoma 53, Newport 24

West Canaan — The Royals stormed out to a 28-9 lead at halftime in a dominant win over Newport.

Orford — Lacey Stever and the Raptors (4-2) built a 46-20 lead through three quarters before the Olympians (2-6) staged a late rally.

Stever finished with a game-high 25 points, but Rivendell coach Russ Wilcox had more to say about Stever’s court awareness and passing ability than her typically strong effort from the field.

“We did a nice job moving the ball around. Even though Lacey had 25 points, it was very evenly distributed because she was able to find a lot of open players,” Wilcox said.

Junior Megan Perkins (six points) started at point guard and drew praise from Wilcox for her job running the offense. Tao Ameden added eight points for Rivendell.

Mikayla Hodge led Oxbow with 10 points, while Lauren Tomlinson had nine.

West Rutland 65 Whitcomb 40

West Rutland, Vt. — Whitcomb led 27-19 at halftime before the Golden Horde (7-0) erupted for 32 points in the third quarter on the way to beating the upstart Hornets.

The Hornets (7-2) are down to just six players after starter Alexis Burnham was lost for the season because of a concussion, and their lack of depth proved fatal after the break against one of the better teams in Vermont Division IV.

Ashley Stearns had 13 points for the Hornets, while Lindsey LaPerle had 11. Reba Hart and Nicole Begin each had seven.

Coe-Brown 66 Hanover 43

Northwood, n.h. — The Marauders led 14-10 after the first quarter but then surrendered 22 points in the second as the Bears took control.

Quechee — With four players matching or exceeding their previous scoring bests for the season, the Phoenix (1-6) pulled away from the Eagles (3-6) on Monday night for their first win.

Sharon turned up its game in the middle periods, outscoring Mid Vermont Christian 29-11 to break out of a 9-9 first-quarter tie. Suzie Moses led the way for TSA with 15 points; Eliza Putnam added season-high 10 points, and Abby Hurwitz followed with nine, also a season best.

Wolfeboro, n.h. — David Hampton drained seven 3-pointers on his way to 34 points as the Raiders (6-2 overall, 5-1 league) had little trouble with the host Knights.

“Dave had a great game. It was a great team effort; nine kids scored. It was a good night,” Lebanon coach Kieth Matte said.

Dominick Morrill added 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. The Raiders led 38-22 at halftime and then outscored Kingswood 15-7 in the third quarter to end any remaining drama.

Thetford 53 Montpelier 42

Thetford — The Panthers rebounded from a rare defeat against Rivendell over the weekend by returning to what they do best — outworking their opponents.

Brandon Gray had 12 points for Thetford while Ian Weider added 11, Erich Alberta had nine and Aiden Cleaves had eight. The Panthers improved to 8-2 with the victory.

“This was textbook us tonight, we’re a blue collar team. We got whacked by Rivendell on Saturday, this was a rebound game to refocus. I thought tonight we worked so hard, played really unselfishly,” Thetford coach Justin Smith said.

Coe-Brown 45 Hanover 44 (ot)

Hanover — The Marauders (3-6 overall, 1-6 league) led 44-38 with just 82 seconds to play before the Bears rallied to shock the home fans in Hanover.

Coe-Brown scored following an offensive rebound with just over a minute to play, and then forced two straight turnovers to lead to two field goals and the win.

Bethel — The Hornets were outmanned by the visiting Golden Horde, falling to 0-8.

Caleb Chase led the way for Whitcomb with 19 points, including five 3-pointers. Stephen Davis added seven points.

Women’s College Hoop

Colby-Sawyer 71 Middlebury 62

New London — Colby-Sawyer (11-4) had four players score double-figures in a victory over Middlebury (8-7), the Chargers’ eighth straight.

The Chargers were led by sophomore Kelsey Cahill’s team-best 15 points and grabbed game-high 13 rebounds.

Dartmouth Freshman Honored

Princeton, n.j. — On the heels of career-best 13 points against Harvard last Saturday, Dartmouth freshman Lakin Roland was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week. Roland joins Abbey Schmitt as Big Green players who have claimed top rookie honors this season.

Women’s College Hockey

Dartmouth Duo Win Awards

Hanover — Two members from the Dartmouth women’s hockey team earned ECAC Hockey honors after the Big Green went 3-0-0 last week.

Senior forward Camille Dumais was tabbed player of the week, while Ailish Forfar earned her second straight rookie of the week honor.

Dumais has 12 goals and seven assists this season. Three of her goals have been game-winners, which is tied with Forfar for a team best.

Forfar tallied two goals and adding an assist in the Big Green’s three victories.

Both of Forfar’s goals were game-winners and she now leads all freshmen in the league with three.

The first-year player from East Gwillinbury, Ontario, now has five goals and one assist this season.